Thousands of women celebrate the landmark fair pay victory

Cash-strapped South Lanarkshire Council yesterday (Wednesday) settled a long-running equal pay claim of up to £75m for 3000 workers.

Many of the claimants are low-paid cooks, cleaners, home carers and dinner ladies and the council agreed the settlement with their legal representatives.

It was approved at yesterday’s executive committee meeting held at the council’s headquarters in Hamilton’s Almada Street.

A council spokesman insisted the payout will come from the council’s reserve fund and will have no impact on services or require asset sales or additional borrowing.

The landmark agreement comes as the council earlier this month agreed £13.3m of savings with the loss of 173 jobs and are facing a further £38m of budget cuts over the next two years.

The press and public were barred from reporting the meeting that discussed how they were going to settle the pay claim.

The full details of the overall settlement will remain confidential but one council source told the Advertiser: “It was discussed at the meeting that the settlement could be up to £75m.”

None of the 28 councillors including council leader Eddie McAvoy, the chief executive Lindsay Freeland and other officials who attended the private meeting could discuss the figure for legal reasons.

The agreement follows several months of settlement discussions between the council and Fox and Partners, Stefan Cross QC and Action 4 Equality Scotland Ltd.

Council leader Eddie McAvoy said: “The administration have been guided throughout this process by the legal advice we have received, but we’ve always been very clear that any claimants who were entitled to additional money should get it.

“Towards the end of last year it seemed that the circumstances were right to try to achieve a negotiated settlement, and I am pleased that the talks have concluded successfully.”

Carol Fox, of Fox and Partners, told the Advertiser she was delighted to win a claim for her 3000 clients.

“It is the biggest ever equal pay claim settlement in Scotland,” she added.

“Eighteen of the claimants have died since the longest-ever running equal pay claim began in 2005.”

And Ms Fox confirmed to the Advertiser that as part of the settlement they have agreed that they will take on no new cases of equal pay against the council.

She added: “This has been a complex and long-running case but we are delighted that we have been able to secure a settlement that we can recommend to our clients.

“It has taken a considerable amount of time and legal work to progress a mass settlement for more than 3000 individual claimants.

“We will be contacting them all in due course to outline what the settlement means to them, and we ask them for their continued patience and co-operation as we do that in the coming months.”

Stefan Cross QC added: “This is good news for our clients and brings to an end an important chapter in the equal pay issue.”

South Lanarkshire Council and Fox and Partners said they could not comment on the figure because of confidentiality agreements.

The Labour group, SNP opposition group and the council also couldn’t make comment on the £75m for legal reasons.

Paul Manning , the council’s executive director of finance and corporate resources, said: “South Lanarkshire have long been committed to equality of pay for those in comparable jobs, regardless of gender.

“We are glad to be in a position to continue to lead the way on this issue by settling with these claimants.”